In any case, the news show could only give the scientist twenty seconds of air time because time is an important commodity. Newspapers and magazines sell space, which is not without its limitations for a commercial enterprise. But space can be expanded. Television sells time, and time cannot be expanded. This means that whatever else is neglected, commercials cannot be, which leads to another possible answer to the question "What is news?" News, we might say, may be history in its first and best form, or the stuff of literature, or a record of the condition of a society, or the expression of things, but in its worst form it can also be mainly a "filler," a "come-on" to keep the viewer's attention until the commercials come. Certain producers have learned that by pandering to the audience, by eschewing solid news and replacing it with leering sensationalism, they can subvert the news by presenting a "television commercial show" that is interrupted by news.
不论如何，电视新闻只会给科学家二十秒的镜头，因为时间实在是太宝贵了。如果说报纸和杂志卖的是版面（即便这样，广告也会占据版面），那么电视卖的就是时间，而且时间没办法扩展。这意味着不管不播出什么，广告也是一定要播放的。这也给“新闻是什么？”提供了另一种可能的答案。我们可以说，新闻是最早且形式最好的历史，或者说它是文学的原材料，或者说它是社会状态的记载，或是其他某些事物的表现，但是它最坏的形式也可以主要是在商品广告开始以前竭力留住观众注意力的一种填充物和引诱手段。一些制作人也学会了迎合观众，回避重要新闻，播放一些哗众取宠的故事。用这种方法，他们把新闻与广告本末倒置，让新闻变成广告中的插播节目。
All of which leads us to reiterate, first, that there are no simple answers to the question "What is news?" and, second, that it is not our purpose to tell you what you ought to believe about the question. The purpose of this chapter is to arouse your interest in thinking about the question. Your answers are to be found by knowing what you feel is significant and how your sense of the significant conforms with or departs from that of others, including broadcasters, their bosses, and their audiences. Answers are to be found in your ideas about the purpose of public communication, and in your judgment of the kind of society you live in and wish to live in. We cannot provide answers to these questions. But you also need to know something about the problems, limitations, traditions, motivations, and, yes, even the delusions of the television news industry. That's where we can help you to know how to watch a television news show.
我们再重申一遍，首先，关于“新闻是什么？”这个问题并没有简单的答案；其次，我们的目的也不是告诉读者关于这个问题，你应该知道什么。本章节的目的，是引发你对这个问题的思考。当你明白对于自己来说什么是重要的，以及你的感觉可能与其他人相同或相反时，自然就知道问题的答案了。当你明白大众传媒的目标，知道社会的样子，以及自己理想社会的样子时，自然也就知道答案了。但你同样需要知道电视新闻业存在的问题、缺陷、传统、动机甚至是错觉。这才是我们所能帮助你的地方，让你懂得如何收看电视新闻。
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